More common than the nativity scene in mainstream Christian worship is the depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Both images break the second commandment recorded in Exodus 20:4 and Deuteronomy 5:8. God clearly bans the use of any image in the worship of Him. Just as a nativity scene reduces Jesus to a mere infant instead of the divine Son of God, crucifixes reduce Him to a suffering, dying man instead of the propitiation of our sins who now lives so that we can have eternal life. Both images reduce the spiritual significance of the events to a purely physical level. A person can never understand God through an image or representation, for to make an image of God is to reduce Him to physical attributes we can sense. The world may consider their nativity scenes and crucifixes as harmless aids to their worship of God, but in their arrogance, they have ignored the second commandment. Through images, the world has reduced God and His power to their own level. Diminishing God removes our understanding of and respect for His authority.

The sign of the cross is made by some athletes before batting or shooting free throws. Little silver crosses hang on chains around necks or from car rearview mirrors. A website selling religious jewelry states that the tau is the original form of the letter T and the initial of the name of Tammuz the sun god which is another name for Nimrod. The tau or the cross was a revered symbol in ancient times at least 1,500 years before Christ. Variations of the cross used as a religious symbol can be found in almost every ancient religion except Judaism and Islam. It is an example of pagan beliefs brought into the Catholic Church. Assume for a moment that Christ died on a tau cross. The instrument of His death is not to be worshipped or venerated. The New Testament uses two Greek words to describe the instrument of Jesus' death. One is xulon which means tree. The other Greek word is stauros meaning a stake. Stauros denotes primarily an upright pale or stake. Both the noun and the verb stauros to fasten to a stake or pale are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed cross. The shape of the latter had its origin in ancient Chaldea and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz in the shape of the mystic Tau the initial of his name in that country and adjacent lands including Egypt. By the middle of the 3rd cent. AD the churches had either departed from or had travestied certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T in its most frequent form with the cross-piece lowered was adopted to stand for the cross of Christ.

Crucifixes are physical aids in worshiping the invisible God. The second commandment forbids the use of such aids. These include statues or paintings of Jesus or Mary, nativity scenes, crucifixes, steeples, stained-glass pictures of God or Christ and many other things. The basis of all idolatry is that self-centered, rebellious human beings refuse to surrender themselves to worship the true God as He commands. Without God's help, human nature tries to limit God to the confines of physical objects that he understands. Men fabricate images or representations to aid them in worshiping a god that they themselves have concocted. These images are called idols, icons, symbols or objects of devotion. The first commandment expresses that it is a sin to place a higher value on anything than what we place on God. Building upon the foundation of the first commandment, the second forbids the use of physical aids in worshiping the invisible God.

Even today in this secular Western world the most common good luck charm is the cross or crucifix. Not only many in mainstream Christianity wear them but some professional athletes, actors, actresses, and even idolized music stars such as Madonna have been seen wearing the cross as either a necklace or bracelet or maybe even tattooed on their bodies. If Jesus Christ was executed today by what method would it be. These questions served to expose the foolishness of human reasoning regarding how it thinks it should worship the Lord and Savior. The original Greek word used was stauroo and according to the New Bible Dictionary stauroo means primarily an upright stake or beam or secondly a stake used as an instrument for punishment and execution. The study of word origins shows that stauroo is a stake or pole as well. There is no way of changing that meaning to anything else but that. Many references admit that no one knows exactly what the stauroo or stake or cross that Jesus Christ was crucified on actually looked like. It was most likely just a stake. The cross was used centuries before Christ. For example in the British museum there is a statue of the Assyrian king Samsi-Vul who was the son of Shalmaneser and around his neck is an almost perfect Maltese cross. The ancient Greek goddess Diana is pictured with a cross over her head in much the same way the virgin Mary is represented by many medieval artists. Bacchus the Greek god of wine is often pictured wearing a headdress adorned with crosses. The Egyptians used cross symbols in abundance as did the Hindus. Different types of crosses were used in Mexico centuries before the Spaniards ever arrived which means their origins were most likely prior to the time of Christ. The cross has always been a major symbol of pagan religions. Crucifixion of live criminals did not occur in the Old Testament. History shows that the Phoenicians and Carthaginians practiced crucifixion and later of course the Romans used it extensively. Christian use of the cross did not begin until the time of Constantine three centuries after Christ. Archaeologists have not found any Christian use of the symbol before that time. A person who uses a cross may not hear His voice. Unrighteous human beings suppress the truth. This thought process is called syncretism which is the combination of different forms of belief or practice. Crosses have been added to Christianity without Christ's approval. Demonic forces are no doubt ecstatic that their symbol of the pagan god Tammuz has been stamped on to syncretized mainstream Christianity. The apostles did not trust in the old rugged cross as a virtuous symbol but as the accursed tree a device of death and shame. Instead their faith is in what was accomplished on the cross and through this faith they grew to know the forgiveness of sin thanks to Christ's sacrifice. Paul wrote that the message of the cross not the cross itself is the power of God. Three times in the book of Acts they refer to it as merely and vaguely a tree. There is absolutely no evidence that God's true church ever used the cross symbol for any purpose whatsoever. Nowhere does the Bible command its use. The important thing is Christ's sacrifice for us and what He is doing now not the exact shape of the wood on which Christ died. The mere fact that the traditional cross figures so prominently in pagan religious customs should give us pause for thought.

The New Testament authors state that Jesus was crucified on a stauros, which is a pole or stake. The traditional cross is a stake with a cross-member resembling the ancient letter tau. Human nature repeatedly feels the need to focus worship on something tangible. The bronze serpent that Moses made became an object of worship by the children of Israel. King Hezekiah broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made. God hates idolatry. The symbol of the cross would be considered in the same way. A cross serves as nothing more than a bronze serpent. There is no biblical connection between the true Son of God and the cross of Tammuz. Hanging a cross on the walls of one's home or from a chain around one's neck puts a person at odds with God since He has commanded not to do this and He is a jealous God.